Browse Fitness Tips by Stew Smith, CSCS Articles

After doing research and writing about physical fitness tests for military and public service agencies for the past ten years, I recognized a common appearance of the 1.5 mile run, pushups, and sit-ups test as a near universal basis for testing fitness levels. The groups who use the Common PFT are the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and more than 50% ...

Getting into a running program after an injury or just starting running for the first time ever or many years is very tough. For one, the joints, soft tissues, and bones can all be injured by common “overuse” injuries such as: * Shin Splints * Very Common Knee Tendinitis * Runner's Knee (PFS) * ITB Syndrome * Heel Injuries (Plantar Fasciitis) ...

Nearly on a daily basis, people young and old confide in me with their fitness goals. Too many of these goals are extremely broad and lack focus and many are too narrow in scope and require more elements to succeed. For example, broad goals are “getting healthy again” or “losing weight”. These can require some to stop over-eating, smoking, drinking soda ...

Stew Smith CSCS, former Navy SEAL Joins Forces with FireLink.com as fitness advisor / writer. I am pleased to start writing a fitness column for FireLink.com that will enable me to communicate with law officers on a regular basis, but also, I hope to assist our Heroes of Tomorrow and today with maintaining their fitness level and career longevity. It is ...

This week I received an email titled, "LOVE-HANDLES!! Help me lose them." I have been working on a routine that incorporates exercises that will help you work your love handles (the oblique region of the torso). Personally, I like to work my "obliques" on days I work my legs, so I created the Legs and Love Handles workout seen below. As ...

I received several e-mails last week about running faster. A few requested workouts for their 1.5 mile, 2 mile or three mile PFT runs and several were runners who compete 5K and 10K races on the weekends. Since all these distances use relatively the same training philosophy - short distance , faster pace - I decided to answer them all ...

We all are susceptible to lower back injuries– firefighter, military, law enforcement, advanced athlete, beginning exerciser, or sedentary person – we all get back injuries of some sort. The back injuries seen most in doctor’s offices and chiropractic clinics world wide involve the lower back / hip region and can occur from a variety of different causes. According to Dr. Steve ...

This week I received a fun email from a former Marine who likes to push himself still and those around him. He writes: Stew, I have been using your workouts to get my pushups up to 100 in 2 minutes (as a Marine we focused on pullups as you know) and got it last week. Now I an thinking of doing ...

This week, I received an email from an Army Soldier who was having a difficult time running a few months ago. His breathing patterns were so erratic that he was basically hyperventilating while running his two mile PFT run. Once he started breathing properly as well as exhaling FULLY, he was able to perform better in the run – not only ...

Every year after a few months of decreased running due to winter months, I receive emails from people who are starting to ache after only a few days of running. Typically, if you take off for more than 2-3 months from a regular running routine, chances are when you start again you will start off “where you left off” and actually ...

With the long days of summer, there are more daylight hours in which to exercise. Many people focus on running and outdoor activities. These days, though, it may be best to stay indoors and do another type of workout instead of breathing polluted air during strenuous cardio activity. In an email this week, I was asked about running during the summer, ...